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Income Support

Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is her estimate of the annual cost of restoring entitlement to income support to unemployed 16 and 17-year-olds; and what is her estimate of the present numbers of 16 and 17-year-olds who are not in education, training or employment. [12800]

Mr. Forth: The jobseeker's allowance has now replaced income support for unemployed men and women. Information is not available to calculate the cost of reintroducing JSA for unemployed 16 and 17-year-olds

27 Jan 1997 : Column: 98

within normal estimating margins, due to behavioural factors. Illustrative costs, based on a range of assumptions are used instead.

Cost of introducing general entitlement to Jobseeker's Allowance to 16 and 17-year-olds

Assumptions	Benefit costs 1997-98
	£ million
10 per cent. move from education to JSA	450
20 per cent. move from education to JSA	700
40 per cent. move from education to JSA	1,300

(39) Costs are derived from the movement of young people from education to JSA, plus the costs of those who are defined as unemployed (but not on benefits) under the International Labour Organisation definition.

(40) In addition to assumptions regarding the movement from education to JSA, it is assumed that (a) all 16 and 17-year-olds move into JSA from day one of the policy change; (b) 15 per cent. of the families of 16 and 17 year olds in education are on JSA (this assumption is the basis for an estimate of reduction in cost as a result of families losing entitlement to dependency and other family benefits); (c) half of the 16 and 17-year-olds who claim JSA move away from home and live independently and so receive Housing Benefit; (d) half of the 16-year- olds are the only children in their families.

(41) To ensure consistency, the number of 16 and 17-year-olds in education and other groups affected by this policy are all based on the Spring 1996 Labour Force Survey. Estimates of costs are rounded to the nearest £50 million.

Of the 1,401,000 16 and 17-year-olds in Great Britain in autumn 1996, 172,000--12 per cent.--were not in full-time education, training or employment. Ninety-one thousand of those were unemployed, and 81,000 were either unavailable for, or not seeking, work.

Labour market educational status of 16 to 17-year-olds, autumn 1996

			GB, thousands
	All	In full-time education	Not in full-time education
All	1,401	940	462
In employment	679	389	290
ILO unemployed	181	90	91
Economically inactive	542	461	81

Source:

Labour Force Survey autumn 1996 "Rapid Release".

Notes:

1. The figure given in the answer is the number of 16 and 17 year olds who are not in full-time education, not in employment (full-time or part-time) and not on a government employment or training programme i.e. those who are not in full-time education and are either ILO unemployed or economically inactive. It includes a small number in part-time education as well as those who are sick, disabled or looking after the home/family. A fuller breakdown of young people's activities is in the table.

2. The figures are taken from the autumn 1996 Labour Force Survey (LFS) and were published by the Office for National Statistics in the LFS Rapid Release on 15 January.

3. All figures relate to young people who were 16 and 17 at the time of the survey.

4. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a sample survey of about 60,000 households in Great Britain conducted every quarter since spring 1992 and annually in the spring of each year between 1984 and 1991. As is the case with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to sampling variability.

27 Jan 1997 : Column: 99

Surplus Places

Mr. Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what are the numbers and percentages of surplus places in each local education authority in England. [13261]

Mr. Robin Squire: The following tables set out the numbers of surplus places, by local authority area, and the proportion that these represent of total capacity, as at January 1996. The data are drawn from the returns made during 1996 by local education authorities in respect of their schools and by the Funding Agency for Schools in respect of grant-maintained schools in stage 2 and 3 authority areas: data on surplus places in the 359 grant-maintained schools in stage 1 authorities are not available.

These returns indicate that there were just over 815,000 surplus school places in January 1996, representing 11 per cent. of the total capacity of 7.6 million places. This represents a reduction overall of just under 68,000 places between 1995 and 1996--some 1 per cent. of total capacity.

This is encouraging. But the tables illustrate considerable variation in numerical and proportionate levels of surplus across the country. In some cases, combinations of pupil population growth and rationalisation are expected to reduce high levels of surplus to more acceptable levels.

Where there is no indication of significant reduction in high levels of surplus the Department will consult the authorities concerned about the extent to which any of that surplus is in practice removable. In the light of is consultation my right hon. Friend will decide whether surplus place removal targets should be set for any of those authorities.

Table 1: Surplus places by local authority area (excluding GM schools in stage 1 authorities) at January 1996

	Primary(36)		Secondary
	Actual surplus	Actual surplus
	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Barking	1,259	8	472	5
Barnet	1,031	5	1,411	7(37)
Barnsley	1,538	7	2,486	16
Bath and North-east Somerset	1,082	8	1,017	10(37)
Bedfordshire	6,571	14	6,975	13(37)
Berkshire	4,087	7	6,256	12(37)
Bexley	1,146	6	853	6(37)
Birmingham	7,480	7	9,130	12(37)
Bolton	2,210	9	1,636	9(37)
Bradford	3,574	9	4,595	9(37)
Brent	1,833	9	1,046	7(38)
Bromley	1,073	5(37)	408	2(38)
Buckinghamshire	8,075	12	3,195	8(37)
Bury	465	3	552	5
Calderdale	2,471	13	1,342	9(37)
Cambridgeshire	5,671	9	2,117	5(37)
Camden	657	6	604	6(37)
Cheshire	12,616	13	8,156	12
City of Bristol	2,404	8	5,648	26
City of Kingston upon Hull	4,426	15	3,503	19
Cornwall	2,966	7	1,109	4
Corporation of London	12	6	0	0
Coventry	4,112	13	4,062	17
Croydon	1,907	7	1,473	9(37)
Cumbria	4,919	12	3,519	10(37)
Derbyshire	8,955	11	8,408	13(37)
Devon	8,372	9	3,283	6
Doncaster	6,522	20	5,545	21
Dorset	3,123	7	3,663	8(37)
Dudley	2,896	10	1,995	10(37)
Durham	7,484	13	5,511	13
Ealing	3,640	14	581	4(37)
East Riding of Yorkshire	3,477	13	2,211	10
East Sussex	5,288	9	3,316	9
Enfield	713	3	1,425	7(37)
Essex	12,321	9(37)	17,323	15(37)
Gateshead	3,675	18	2,611	18
Gloucestershire	5,135	10(37)	2,654	7(37)
Greenwich	2,279	11	2,879	18
Hackney	1,641	10	1,342	16
Hammersmith	1,515	16	1,371	19(37)
Hampshire	14,184	10	6,833	8(37)
Haringey	923	5	756	7
Harrow	830	4	602	7
Hartlepool	749	8	752	11
Havering	1,389	7	2,220	13(37)
Hereford and Worcester	5,429	10	6,160	12
Hertfordshire	10,030	11	11,969	15(37)
Hillingdon	1,423	7(37)	595	4(38)
Hounslow	1,522	8	657	4(37)
Isle of Wight	493	7	1,087	10
Isles of Scilly	103	41	125	53
Islington	1,655	10	1,327	15
Kensington	657	11	715	18(37)
Kent	10,716	8	13,432	12(37)
Kingston upon Thames	56	0	694	8(37)
Kirklees	2,637	7	2,588	10
Knowsley	3,301	17	1,187	12
Lambeth	4,085	19(37)	2,667	29(37)
Lancashire	11,235	9	8,380	10
Leeds	8,152	12	6,574	13
Leicestershire	7,563	9	9,332	14
Lewisham	1,125	6	2,016	16
Lincolnshire	6,826	(37)12	4,462	(37)10
Liverpool	8,142	16	6,827	(37)18
Manchester	6,909	15	7,736	26
Merton	653	5	1,142	(37)13
Middlesbrough	2,390	14	1,924	18
Newcastle upon Tyne	2,858	13	2,704	14
Newham	1,797	7	1,901	12
Norfolk	5,110	8	4,386	(37)10
North-east Lincolnshire	2,263	13	1,815	14
North Lincolnshire	1,816	12	1,514	13
North Somerset	882	6	1,061	8
North Tyneside	2,664	16	2,195	13
North Yorkshire	5,629	12	3,443	9
Northamptonshire	3,691	7	5,432	(37)11
Northumberland	4,893	21	3,292	10
Nottinghamshire	9,060	10	15,016	19
Oldham	2,274	10	968	6
Oxfordshire	6,420	13	5,340	13
Redbridge	407	2	564	4
Redcar and Cleveland	1,949	12	2,093	17
Richmond upon Thames	407	4	213	3
Rochdale	796	4	2,068	(37)14
Rotherham	2,352	9	2,203	11
Salford	2,775	12	2,227	16
Sandwell	1,559	6	2,886	15
Sefton	2,587	10	3,305	15
Sheffield	4,656	10	2,697	10
Shropshire	3,828	10	1,998	(37)7
Solihull	1,799	9	880	6
Somerset	2,018	5	2,304	8
South Gloucestershire	891	4	1,369	9
South Tyneside	1,437	9	1,840	16
Southwark	3,360	15	1,899	(37)17
St. Helens	1,651	10	1,998	15
Staffordshire	12,748	12	4,015	6
Stockport	2,316	9	1,499	9
Stockton on Tees	2,149	11	1,867	13
Suffolk	4,021	8	5,519	10
Sunderland	5,288	16	2,245	10
Surrey	8,534	11	3,488	(37)7
Sutton	394	3	480	(37)4
Tameside	1,611	7	1,143	(37)8
Tower Hamlets	2,131	10	1,456	11
Trafford	1,339	7	1,721	(37)12
Wakefield	3,416	11	4,041	17
Walsall	2,494	9	1,982	(37)9
Waltham Forest	1,210	6	1,097	(37)9
Wandsworth	2,513	15	1,361	(37)13
Warwickshire	7,255	14	5,616	(37)18
West Sussex	5,589	9	6,206	13
Westminster	501	6	853	11
Wigan	3,679	12	1,116	6
Wiltshire	6,104	12	4,589	(37)11
Wirral	4,390	13	3,359	(37)13
Wolverhampton	3,482	13	3,268	(37)17
York	2,125	14	1,490	14
Total	438,916	10	376,464	12

(42) Primary figures show surplus after taking account of any summer entry.

(43) Stage two for planning purposes.

(44) Stage three for planning purposes.

1. Stage 1 = less than 10 per cent. of pupils in the GM sector. Stage 2 = between 10 per cent. and 75 per cent. of pupils in the GM sector. Stage 3 = 75 per cent. or more pupils in the GM sector.

27 Jan 1997 : Column: 101

Table 2: Distribution of surplus between LEA and GM schools in stage 2 and 3 authorities, January 1996

	LEA		GM		Total
	Surplus	Per cent.	Surplus	Per cent.	Surplus	Per cent.
Primary
Bromley	922	4	151	6	1,073	5
Essex	10,975	9	1,346	6	12,321	9
Gloucestershire	4,694	11	441	7	5,135	10
Hillingdon	1,274	7	149	5	1,423	7
Lambeth	3,800	20	285	11	4,085	19
Lincolnshire	6,214	13	612	7	6,826	12
Secondary
Barnet	1,059	10	352	4	1,411	7
Bedfordshire	6,734	16	241	2	6,975	13
Berkshire	4,299	10	1,957	17	6,256	12
Bexley	684	6	169	4	853	6
Birmingham	7,608	13	1,522	9	9,130	12
Bolton	1,329	9	307	10	1,636	9
Bradford	4,423	10	172	3	4,595	9
Brent	152	9	894	7	1,046	7
Bromley	0	0	408	2	408	2
Buckinghamshire	2,725	9	470	5	3,195	8
Calderdale	567	11	775	8	1,342	9
Cambridgeshire	1,318	5	799	5	2,117	5
Camden	604	7	0	0	604	6
Croydon	987	12	486	6	1,473	9
Cumbria	2,454	11	1,065	8	3,519	10
Derbyshire	6,816	15	1,592	8	8,408	13
Dorset	3,009	9	654	6	3,663	8
Dudley	1,730	11	265	5	1,995	10
Ealing	364	5	217	3	581	4
Enfield	1,330	9	95	2	1,425	7
Essex	7,448	21	9,875	13	17,323	15
Gloucestershire	1,245	11	1,409	6	2,654	7
Hammersmith and Fulham	1,371	23	0	0	1,371	19
Hampshire	5,663	8	1,170	7	6,833	8
Havering	2,104	16	116	3	2,220	13
Hertfordshire	9,125	17	2,844	11	11,969	15
Hillingdon	146	6	449	4	595	4
Hounslow	649	5	8	0	657	4
Kensington and Chelsea	701	22	14	2	715	18
Kent	6,735	13	6,697	11	13,432	12
Kingston upon Thames	415	8	279	9	694	8
Lambeth	1,741	40	926	19	2,667	29
Lincolnshire	3,087	13	1,375	7	4,462	10
Liverpool	6,110	18	717	19	6,827	18
Merton	1,142	15	0	0	1,142	13
Norfolk	3,847	11	539	5	4,386	10
Northamptonshire	4,225	11	1,207	11	5,432	11
Rochdale	1,981	15	87	4	2,068	14
Shropshire	1,876	8	122	3	1,998	7
Southwark	1,771	21	128	5	1,899	17
Surrey	2,802	8	686	4	3,488	7
Sutton	205	4	275	4	480	4
Tameside	1,143	9	0	0	1,143	8
Trafford	1,503	16	218	5	1,721	12
Walsall	1,221	9	761	10	1,982	9
Waltham Forest	1,075	10	22	1	1,097	9
Wandsworth	575	20	786	10	1,361	13
Warwickshire	4,803	19	813	13	5,616	18
Wiltshire	3,149	13	1,440	9	4,589	11
Wirral	3,033	14	326	9	3,359	13
Wolverhampton	3,021	19	247	9	3,268	17

1. The GM column includes schools which became grant-maintained on or before 1 April 1996.

2. LEA and GM percentage columns show the actual number of surplus places as a proportion of total capacity within that sector.

27 Jan 1997 : Column: 102

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